Broadway Bound

So the other day I told you all about my love of baking.

Well I had the opportunity to bake some more this week because B's mother had a birthday on Tuesday.

I wasn't sure what to make but I knew that I wanted to make something easy and quick but was still good. Plus I know she is watching her weight so I wanted to make it healthy.

A long time ago when I first started at Weight Watchers someone gave a recipe to use cake mix and diet soda. I never tried it before nor did I get the exact recipe at the time. Well I remembered the recipe the other day and so I did a search on it and it is so freakin' simple I could hug whoever thought this genius up.

Ok so here is the recipe. Are you ready for it?:
1 Box of Cake Mix
1 Can of Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke or any other diet soda

Mix together. Do not add anything else and put it in a cake mold or cupcakes or whatever and wala you have a cake! So easy!

I will tell you that if you are using a chocolate cake mix use a dark soda as the mix and if you are using a white cake mix use something like Diet 7Up or Diet Sprite.

This was unbelievably easy.

I made 24 cupcakes with mine but you can do whatever. I topped it off with Funfetti Icing and figured out the points for the little slice of heaven. Wanna guess how many points with Funfetti Icing? Points came out to be 3!! You got that 3! That is pretty awesome considering a regular recipe of cake mix and icing would be somewhere around 5 or 6 depending on certain things.

and the best part....IT TASTES SO GOOD. PROBABLY EVEN BETTER THAN USING ALL THE INGREDIENTS IN IT.

Definitely going to use this recipe more now. I know its not ideal since I love making things from scratch but if you are in a hurry I would try this little number out!

The boyfriend has made a decision. A decision that is going to affect me and change our lives. He had decided to join the Navy Reserves.

It took a long time for him to come to this decision but I knew for some time now that he was going to join some kind of military I just didn't know what branch.

I have been thinking about writing this post for a few weeks but at the time I was too nervous for the unknown and was still a little emotional. In fact I still am but I'm definitely a lot better than I was.

He started the process of enlisting a week and a half ago. He is still waiting to get the final word but it should be Thursday or Monday.

Our lives are kinda put on hold right now. We can't plan much into the future because we don't know when he leaves for Boot Camp yet. We are jam packing everything we can into September because we don't know when we can do certain things. I know that when he does leave for Boot Camp that he will be gone around 2 and a half months. After he graduates he will be sent to a speciality school for about a month to 2 months. This all depends on what his job will be and we don't know that yet either. Depending on how much he likes it will determine if he wants to enlist full time into the Navy but who knows that yet either.

I'm such a planner. I plan so much of what I'm going to do in the coming weeks/months and for me not to know this is really testing me. I guess that's going to become my new life. The military is full of the unexpectedness and you basically have to go with the quote, "take each day one at a time".

At first I was nervous for us. I was nervous that he would go away and forget about me. He would want to break up with me because he couldn't remember me. I was reassured by him that he has no intentions of breaking up with me or losing me. He wants me around for the long haul. That makes me feel a lot better. I was also nervous for him. The unexpected is what is killing me the most. I'm scared that I'm going to go crazy not seeing him or talking to him for a few months. I'm scared in general.

Over the past few weeks friends have offered encouragement and B has made me feel comforted knowing that this will be a better future in the long haul, that he wants me there by his side through everything, and that everything will be just fine.

I'm still scared, nervous and excited for the new adventure.

So friends please offer your words of encouragement. Share your stories of how to get through all this if you are a military wife/girlfriend. I would really appreciate it. This is going to be extremely hard so I'm going to depend on my blog friends to help pull me through.

Love,
Sarah

Lately I have been on such a baking kick. I'm so not kidding you. Yes I've been busy but when I do get a chance I have been reading recipes like it's my full time job. I want to bake EVERYTHING I see. It's getting pretty bad.

Just the other day I was on Hungry Girl browsing around for different recipes and such and printed WAY too many recipes for dessert than I think a girl needs. So of course because I'm crazy I decided that after work I was going directly to the grocery store to stock up on my baking supplies for my new recipes. Let's just say that I shouldn't do this. I thought that while I was there I would just stock up on everything so that If I like the recipe I can make it over and over again without having to go to the grocery store. Needless to say I walked out of the grocery store with sets of 4 for every ingredient I need to make 1 recipe. I have no room for this ridiculous amount of ingredients. My kitchen right now looks like I am the grocery store!

Yesterday as I was waiting for B to get to my house I decided hey I should make something. So I took my W.W. Recipe Booklet that I created with all my favorite recipes and looked through them all. I was trying to find a recipe for a casserole or a side dish. Something I could make tonight that I can eat for tomorrow at lunch. Yeah so much for planning. It occurred to me that I have like 3 casserole recipes and maybe 1 side dish. The rest of my recipes are DESSERTS. You know you have a problem when you see TOO MANY DESSERTS in your recipe book. I just like baking more than cooking and I can bake pretty much anything in no time. Cooking on the other hand seems to take me countless hours and stresses me out more. I guess now I'm going to have to go back to Hungry Girl and actually look at recipes that might feed me at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So what are you favorite things to make? Do you prefer baking to cooking or vice versa? I would love to know what your signature dishes are. So come on and comment and send me some of your most favorite recipes. I'll send ya some of mine if you do! It will be a recipe swap!

This weekend I have no work, I do not have to travel, I basically have no plans that are all that big. I'm quite excited about this. Considering the last time I had a day off was 2 and a half weeks ago. Before that I wasn't even at home so this entire month I haven't been home for a single weekend other than this one. This month has been super chaotic but I guess that's how I operate b/c I don't mind it that much.

This weekend I'm looking forward to sleeping in, putting slipcovers on my sofa/chair (exciting I know), bridesmaid dress shopping with 2 of my favorite people, and then going to a comedy club or winery with them in the evening.

Tonight B and I are supposed to do something. I'm kinda in the mood for dancing so maybe we can hit the dance floor. Sarah's gotta shake her grove thing!!

Hope all you ladies have a wonderful relaxing weekend. I know I'm going to finally!

What are your plans for the weekend?

P.S. Big Congrats to PAIGE from I Heart You for having her little baby boy today!

I'm still alive just really tired.

I've been working extra hours at my part time job so I have been working practically the entire month of August. It's great that I'll have the extra money but I'm just so run down that I can't wait to have a few days to relax in a month!

The Update for the rest of the month into Sept:
Aug 22/23: Working @ part time job. 16 hours total
Aug 28/29: Weekend that is free!! (for now)
Sept 4/5/6: Weekend that is free!! (for now)
Sept 12: Fair/Festival
Sept 19: Beer Festival
Sept 23/24/25/26: BEACH!! (can't wait)

I have some new NEWS to share with you all but it's going to have to wait to hopefully Monday.

And no I'm not engaged or pregnant but it is going to a bit of a life change! Just wanted to put that out there.

Miss you all so much. I promise when life lets me have weekends off here soon I'll be back to regular blogging.

Tune in hopefully Monday to find out my news.

Love you all!

Sarah

For the next few days I'm sure that I won't be blogging much.

You see I decided to take on a 3rd job along with my Crab Cake job, and my main job which still isn't paying me. The crab cake job hasn't been giving me any hours since May so I decided that I really need to get some extra money.

I now work for a marketing/promotions company that hires clients to work at their clients events. They contact you whenever there are promotions in your area. So far I have only worked once with them but have loved it.(plus B works with me)

Last week I was contacted that there were openings in my area to work a number of days. So I choose a few days here and there but then had to switch due to unexpected weekend plans. So this weekend I'm signed up to work Saturday/Sunday 7.5 hours both days. Not too bad. B will be working at the events too and since this event is an hour and a half away it will be nice to drive with someone. I figured that after the event we can explore the town and have some fun. The money is fantastic too. B signed up to set up and breakdown along with working the event and i just signed up to be the Team Leader/Manager working the event. We both get extra money for doing this so I'm pretty excited. After this event I have another one to work near the end of the month which will be less hours but still great money.

Anywho, after all is said and done I will be working 11 days straight, then I head up to a cabin with B and his parents for a 3 days weekend. I'm so going to need to rest and relax so let's just pray that I do.

My month of August is filling up so fast that I'm not sure when I'm even going to find the time to do anything else I want to do.

So far my plans for this month:
Aug 1/2: working 3rd job
Aug 7/8/9: Cabin with B
Aug 15: Family Reunion on B's side
Aug 21/22/23/24: Hopefully Beach

Everything should be fun and really relaxing it's just when you put it on paper it looks overwhelming.

So if I don't blog for a few days please forgive me. I hope you understand. Have a wonderful day!

How's your month looking? Are you busy like I am?

Today is my Blog Anniversary. That's right a year ago I started this blog. I can't believe it's been a year of writing on this thing.

Blogging has opened such a new world to me and I have discovered so many great blogs. So many talented writers, so many people who are just like me all over the world. Sometimes you get so wrapped up in your own little bubble that you fail to notice that most people are having the same issues the same problems that you have. Blogging has made me realize that and I think we all gain a little something when we all share our struggles and our achievements.

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone out there that I read and the future blogs that I read. You all have inspired me to do so many things. Your words are inspirational at times, heart wrenching at times, and hilarious at times. I also wanted to say THANK YOU to the readers that read on this blog. I don't have many that read (if any) but I'm still encouraged to write. I hope that in the future many more will continue to read and grow with me in the journey of my life.

So Thank You once again to everyone and all that you do. You are more important to me than you will ever possibly know.

Have a wonderful day, Sarah

Here are some of the wonderful blogs that I read on a daily basis: I ♥ them!

• Working Girl
• I *Heart* You
• your wishcake.
• Tattooed Dorothy
• Classy in Philadelphia
• Give Me Back My Five Bucks
• Molly and Marshal
• Navigating the Quarterlife
• Misadventures of a Newlywed
• Classy and Fabulous
• Jason. For the love of God.
  
• broke and not so fabulous
• Turquoise Ribbons